HOUSTON – BPM Microsystems announced the retirement of Lyman Brown, executive vice president and chief operating officer, effective Jan. 31.
Founder Bill White will take over as president and CEO. He launched the company in 1985 and ran it until 2003.
Brown began his career with BPM Microsystems in June 2003 as director of business development. He was promoted to executive vice president and COO in November the same year.
MEDWAY, MA – A pair of assembly equipment OEMs have teamed to develop a combination printer-placement line.
Milara and Mirae have developed the P3, a printer and pick-and-place system, which will premiere at Apex in April.
Milara will distribute the line in North and South America, while Mirae will do so in Asia.
No financial terms of the partnership were disclosed.
Milara provides stencil printers for SMT and wafer applications. Mirae manufactures equipment for semiconductor, display and SMT-related applications.
SAN JOSE – North America-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $863.3 million in orders in December, up 8.3% sequentially, according to SEMI.
SAN JOSE – The Semiconductor Industry Association hailed the latest guilty plea in an ongoing prosecution of people involved in the sale of counterfeit semiconductor products.
NEENAH, WI – Plexus Corp. posted fiscal first-quarter revenue of $430 million, with profit up 4.7% sequentially, reaching $17.8 million.
LAGUNA HILLS, CA – Acculogic’s Manufacturing Test Systems Division has opened a testing services and support satellite office in Laguna Hills, CA.
The provider of electronic test and production solutions has opened the facility to provide technical support, training and contract services for the firm’s install base of flying probe and boundary scan systems.
The office is equipped with two flying probes, including the double-sided and multi-probe Flying Scorpion FLS850, as well as Sprint 4510 systems.
The facility provides post-sales technical support and contract circuit board testing services.
AUSTIN – 3D-ready TVs will grow from 200,000 units in 2009 to 64 million units in 2018, says DisplaySearch.
LED backlighting and 240 Hz LCDs will serve as enabling technologies for new feature developments in TVs in 2010, specifically for 3D TVs, an area of intense interest to TV manufacturers, according to the research firm.
“We have passed the first hurdle,” said Paul Gray, DisplaySearch director of TV electronics research. “The critical Blu-ray 3D specification is written, but now comes the hard work of securing interoperability. Consumers will want reassurance that such things as 3D glasses will interoperate between brands. Retailers will also have the same demand to allow a thriving accessory market to develop.”
DisplaySearch forecasts that more than 70 million connected TVs will be shipped in 2012, up from around 15 million in 2009.
“The Consumer Electronics Show demonstrated that Internet-connected TVs have finally come of age,” Gray added. “While in the past connected TV sets have seemed to be a solution in search of a problem, compelling new capabilities such as family video calling not only reinforce the TV’s central position in the home, but also represent a bold move to reclaim some of the tasks swallowed by the PC.”
BETHESDA, MD – A Consumer Product Safety Commission rule exempting several electronics devices from lead-content limits for children’s products goes into effect next week.
CHONGQING, CHINA -- Quanta Computer has signed an agreement with the municipal government here to set up a new plant, the company said today.